Mutt
by InuDemon92
Summary: If you find a mutt, you kill it... but when an uprising occurs, endangering her Alfa and children, Elena Michaels must learn to look farther and see the injustice and bitternss below the surface.
1. Prologue

**Mutt**

'Prologue'

Mutts are not to be trusted. If you find one of your territory, you kill it. If you happen to come across one when you're traveling around, you kill it. If a little birdy tells you that one is out there planning and plotting against you, you go out and you kill it. Hell, they don't even deserve a 'him' or 'they'… just _it_.

Or at least that's how it used to be before Jeremy came along. He understood that the answer wasn't simply to kill them, but to keep them on a tightly wound lease. Like a misbehaving dog, you keep it under your eyes and it wouldn't get a _chance_ to do anything stupid. So while ninety nine percent of the mutt population was every bit as disgusting as the stories were, Jeremy still made every effort possible to let them slide away without trouble.

Now, I can sympathize with this, that a lesson well learnt is much better than a death. But sometimes, as good as Jeremy's intention may be, they just don't learn…

* * *

She jumped from a rock and swooshed the net through the air, landing on her new red boots. The dragon fly fluttered around between the cross stitched fabric as she lowered the net to eye level, marveling at the rainbow colours of this fascinating insect's wings. Kimmy giggled, she loved the forest, especially right after a rainstorm, when the dragonflies would come out and play. Daddy had always warned her about going into these trees, but nothing's happened so far, and as long as she kept her eyes on the house, it's not like she was going to get lost or anything.

She visited these trees all the time, despite daddy's warnings. Warnings were serious, yes, she'd heeded every warning from her father for a long time now. But when no one was home to enforce those warning, and you're looking out at green trees with chirping birds up top from the window, it's kind of hard not to be tempted. Now she knew every tree, could locate every raccoon burrow in a quarter mile radius.

It had been just her and her daddy for a while now. Kimmy never knew her mother. For ten years now she'd been told that her mother got pregnant with her as a teenager and freaked at the last minute, abandoning her and her father to go pursue a career in journalism. There were pictures of her, but more so of a young girl standing in front of a very bright screen, which Kimmy soon discovered were samples from picture frames at Walmart.

Her dad had been keeping something from her. He would sometimes go out on these late night rampages twice a week, telling her he'd be going out for a while, a kiss on the nose, and she'd be sitting on the couch for hours until she heard the keys at the door. Then she'd bolt to her room and pretended to had already fallen asleep. When she was old enough to wash her own laundry, she'd decided to do a nice thing and wash his as well, only to discover they were covered in mud with twigs entwined in the knitting of the sweater. They would eat dinner together, while he listened patiently to her adventures at school. Then afterwards when she was in her room she'd hear him munching on more food and find the cupboard empty the next morning. Where had all the food gone?

A crack of a twig made her jump. Kimmy snapped her head up and slipped on the rock she was standing on, landing hard on her bottom. The dragonfly fluttered from her net. Kimmy crawled up to see a squirrel staring at her a few trees away. A sigh of relief fell over her.

"Hey there little fella…" she bent down, reaching out a hand.

The squirrel stared at her, unmoving.

"It's okay…"

It suddenly bolted up a tree. Behind her, Kimmy heard the rustling of bushes, a snarl that ripped through the silent trees, sending birds scattering to the sky. More snarls and growls. Bears? No, bears didn't live in this part of the country. Wolves, maybe, she'd found some paw prints scattered around the forest grounds.

The snarls echoed, bouncing off the trees, coming closer from all directions. Kimmy ran, dropping her net and just sprinted for the safety of her house. A panic crawled up her neck like something was going to spring out and attack her at any moment. Her eyes focused on the ground and she suddenly felt herself hit something very hard.

Kimmy looked up to see her father. His feet were bare as well as his torso, the only item of clothing he had on was his jeans. His hair looked like he'd just crawled out of bed and his eyes held the most bewildered look she never thought he was capable of displaying. He'd always been so confident, secure, so sure of himself.

"Daddy?"

He grabbed her arms, "Kimmy, what are you doing out here!"

She flailed her arms around, pointing in all directions, "Something's in the trees. And, and- it's growling! And what are you-!"

Before she could continue, he had her lifted over his shoulder and before she knew it, they were up in a tree on a branch looking down twenty feet to the ground. Kimmy opened her mouth to scream but he had his hand clasped over her lips, the other hand held her firmly in place from further flailing.

His voice was rasp and desperate in her ear, "Kimmy, listen to me very carefully. I want to stay in this tree and don't move, don't make a sound, and squeeze your eyes shut, cover your ears. _Please_, it's very important that you don't make a sound-."

Another snarl from below interrupted his instruction, not that she could have understood why he was telling her this anyways. In an instant she found herself clinging to a branch instead of him, gripping on for dear life. He was gone. Kimmy opened her mouth to call out for him when she remembered what he'd said. '_Don't make a sound._' She willed her eyes to open and dared a look down forgetting the rest of his instructions.

There he was, standing here underneath the tree, his back arched, hands brought up to his sides. Surrounding him were two giant bears, one yellow and one brown. Wait, they weren't bears, but wolves, giant wolves that made Great Danes look like chiwawas. They circles around him, snapping at him every time he made a move to run.

The brown one jolted forth as her father held up his arm. Its teeth sank into his flesh causing him to cry out in pain. They toppled over against the tree sending vibrations up to her position that almost made her fall. '_cover your ears, shut your eyes_.' Her father's words rang in her mind but she refused to tear her eyes away. It was like an action film where you just had to know what happened next.

_What happened next_…the yellow wolf lunged as the brown one rolled out of the way. Its jaws snapped open to reveal sets of pearl white fangs that slashed across its victim's neck.

She saw bloods, lots of it; her father's widened, lifeless eyes staring up at her. And that was it. Kimmy squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her palms against her ears, trying hard not to breath or whimper or cry.

When she finally mustered up the courage to take a peek, she found them gone, her father gone, and not a drop of blood on the ground. A squirrel skimped up the tree and stared at her, as if fascinated by this new species that had decided to come join him in the trees. The forest returned to its calmness.

"Daddy?"


	2. Chapter 1

**Mutt**

'Chapter One'

It was a rainy day. I stood under my umbrella and inhaled deeply, taking in the fresh air and the scent of water all around us. Quite refreshing, a quick rain shower in the middle of the August humidity.

Kate and Logan were having a blast, breaking in their new water proof boots by plunging feet first into the puddle made from terrible road jobs in the sidewalks. It had only recently occurred to me that didn't matter how thick or durable the rubber was; they still somehow managed to get soaked right down to the socks and underwear. But they seemed to be having fun nonetheless.

I looked over at Clay. Obviously some people didn't share the same enthusiasm. He was grouching on the end of the bench, legs crossed, arms crossed, the most unamused look on his face.

"Can we go now?"

I swear this was the third time in the last ten minutes that I've heard this question from him. Sometimes it's possible to wonder who was _really_ the child here. I sighed, "We've only been here twenty minutes. Besides," I nodded towards the kids, "they're having fun."

"Look, I just want to get out of here before something happens." He said.

"Like what?"

"You know what Jeremy said about the recent mutt activities around this area, that we should be on high alert at all times and not take any unnecessary risks."

I rolled my eyes, "He said be careful. Since when did '_be careful'_ turn into '_high alert'_?"

Clay grumbled something under his breath. I knew he didn't like the rain. It took away his sense of security by masking sounds and washing away scents. But still, it's not like a mutt was going to try anything in a public park with a dozen rowdy children and their parents. A couple strolled by us and gave a look.

"You could have at least brought an umbrella." I said looking over at his blond streaks that now matted his forehead and his windbreaker sculpting the shape of his muscles underneath.

"I didn't think when you said _go out_ you literally meant outside. Couldn't you have picked a more…dry activity?"

"I just want them to experience everything they can experience. I mean, who doesn't know the classical scene of kids splashing around in puddle on a rainy day."

He snorted.

"It's just fun."

"Yeah sure, sitting out here getting drenched is so much fun," he said.

"Not my fault you didn't bring an umbrella."

But before he could escalate this argument into flailing arms, a familiar buzz rang at my side. I reached into my pocket and fished out by cell phone, ignoring Clay's '_this isn't over'_ glare.

The caller display said this was an unknown number, which broadened the possibilities from the unwanted telemarketers to the wanted Jeremy calling us from a payphone because he didn't have his own cell phone. I made a mental note to make him buy one later.

"Hello?"

It was the latter. Jeremy's usual calm serene voice sounded on the other end, along with a hint of panic that I picked up on instantly, and apparently so did Clay, who was now hovering over my shoulder trying to get in on the converstation, not that he really had to, he could hear from where he was.

Nick had gotten into a mugging and was receiving surgery at the public hospital. Right off the bat I know that sometimes must have gone terribly wrong. Firstly, as the werewolf race, we never went to public hospitals to receive treatment just in case they discover that our blood wasn't exactly like that of their _normal_ patients'. And secondly, Nick, a werewolf with superhuman strength and heightened, far superior senses, getting mugged. Not only was Nick stupid enough to get himself into that kind of situation, there was no way he'd be hurt to the point that surgery was needed.

* * *

At the hospital, we found Jeremy in the waiting hall standing in front of a glass window staring out into the rain. The shadow of the waves of water cast onto his face making it seem like tears streaming down his cheeks, even though I knew such an event was not possible. Jeremy only cried on the inside.

"Jeremy?"

I walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. After a few seconds he turned to look at me and opened his mouth to say something, only to shut it a split second later. A man of very few words, so I took on the task of starting the conversation.

"How?" not a very good job, "I mean, how did it happen?"

"Mutts."

I turned to see Clay walking up towards up, Kate and Logan satisfied with candy bars in the seats a few meters back.

"It's the only explanation. What else can lure and hurt a Pack werewolf like that? He must have seen one, sensed trouble, gone after it. I told him he needed to work on his combat skills."

Jeremy nodded, "He was unconscious when someone found him lying in the alley and called 911. By the time I got here he was already in surgery."

I could see the panic struck behind his eyes. Surgery meant blood tests; blood tests meant someone as going to discover our secret. I knew Jeremy must have been thinking of a millions explanations that would explain Nick's _condition_, mentally scanning through every medical journal he'd ever read in his life. Because surgery also meant lots of doctors, notes getting passed around, and I couldn't see Jeremy killing every one of them to keep the secret. But that didn't mean he wouldn't do it. In Clay's childhood he'd dealt with a technician to protect Clay; something that I was sure was never going to be forgotten again.

A few minutes later a doctor finally approached us, removing the mask to reveal long brown curls tucked into a tight ponytail at the base of her neck. If it weren't for the glasses and the white coat, I would have thought she was a freshman, so young.

"Hi," Her voice shattered the illusion, sounding much more mature than her face portrayed, "My name is Dr. Kimberly Riven. I was the surgeon that attended to you loved one. If you wouldn't mind I'd like to speak to his uncle in private." She said scanning her eyes around the group for whoever the uncle was.

"Antonio Sorrentino is currently out of town on some business," Jeremy answered, "I would be more than happy to receive the information in his place."

Dr. Riven nodded, her face looking every bit as grave as Jeremy's. I wondered how many times she'd had to tell someone that their loved one had passed. How many times she'd gotten to practice that face and perfected it so well that you actually thought she was feeling your loss. After all how can you grieve the loss of someone you'd never known?

To my surprise, she said yes, and led Jeremy down the hall to a private room to chat. I looked at Clay, and could see the slight narrowing of his eyes, itching to go with Jeremy.

Jeremy's face was paler than usual coming back with Dr. Riven right behind him. Something was wrong and I braced myself for the worst. I could feel Kate nagging at my side, asking when we were going back to splash in the puddles. That was the last thing on my mind at the moment.

"The surgery was a success. Nicholas's condition is currently stable," Dr. Riven said.

I let out the breath that I'd been holding.

"Right now he'd in Sick Bay. If you'd like, you can give him a quick visit."

"Yes!" I barked before thinking. After thinking I realized something was wrong. This was good news right? Nick wasn't in any danger. But why would Jeremy turn this pale? He diverted his eyes away as Dr. Riven gave us instructions on how to get to his room.

* * *

After reassuring Kate and Logan that we would be out of here in twenty minutes max, just after we shouted a quick hello to Uncle Nick, and telling them to count the number of times they saw people in funny masks, we headed to Sick Bay. Jeremy hadn't said a word the entire walk there. The silences were mainly filled in with Kate blabbering away about wanting a bunny from the gift store.

Nick was lying in bed with an IV protruding from his arm and dressed in turquoise blue dotted shirt that was the definition of one size fits all. I never thought we'd see one of the Pack in a scene like this. But looking at Nick now, I realized how vulnerable we truly were to the dangers of the world that I thought was gone when I was bitten. I clutched on to the twin's hands harder.

Clay only said one word, "Stupid."

I rolled my eyes. Apparently, even in Nick's current condition, he still was exempt from the wrath of Clay.

"How stupid can you be to wind up in a place like this?"

Nick only managed a groan. He really did look beat. A bandage covered most of his left cheek and another wrapped around his forehead. His bare arms were dotted with purple and blue bruises. "As memory serves, you were once in the same situation."

"How many years ago?" Clay shot back, "and it wasn't my fault. That was before Jeremy learnt all his medical skills."

"Well this isn't my fault either! I was unconscious when they brought me in."

"So I guess the question really is _why_ you were unconscious in the first place?"

Nick's mouth tightened into a firm line. "I found this mutt. Derek or something or that's what I thought they call him. He was obviously drunk, hammering down the road feeling up every round ass he could find. And lesson learned, if you want attention, that's the best way I've seen so far to get it. So I thought I'd have a little chat with him and-- set him straight."

We caught that pause there at the end. Even Jeremy looked up from the ground. What Nick meant to say was _kill him_, because that's what most of the Pack would have done. But Jeremy wouldn't have approved of it. Sure, when the job was over and done there was really no point in arguing about it. But something about Jeremy's virtue, the heightened sense of respect that we all have for him, makes you think twice before doing or saying something that's Jeremy unapproved.

Nick continued his story.

"So the guy lingered down an alley, smashing the bottle in his hand on a garbage can before vanished around the corner, and I thought, wow, this is the perfect chance to get him and-."

"Set him straight," Jeremy filled in.

Nicked nodded slowly, "Right… When we were pretty much out of earshot of the street, he suddenly turns around and sneers at me, as if he knew I was following him all along. And then it hit me, he did know, he was expecting me to follow. Three more of them suddenly come out from no where. Hell, I didn't even see it coming."

He pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers, his voice lowered, ashamed of what he was admitting, "All I remember is fighting them and then getting knocked unconscious, then waking up with three masked faced looking down at me."

"Masked faces!" Kate called with delight. They were still playing the counting game.

Nick's story had been enough to set me paranoid. I remembered what Clay had said this morning at the park about being on _high alert._ Well, now I was on high alert. Whether his warning had been a hunch or he really did sense something, he never mentioned it. I knew him well enough to know that he wouldn't say _I told you so_. Clay lived in the present dealing with present circumstances. And to deal with the present circumstances, he suggested we move in with Jeremy for the time being back at Stonehaven. It was closer to the hospital so we could have easier access to Nick and watch over him while Antonio flew down from the North. But I knew that at a time like that, mutts on rampage, there was no other place we'd rather have been. Stonehaven was his home, his true home where he found a place to belong, and it had been mine too. All the Pack buddies we'd lost, all the adventures and memories we'd shared, all revolved around this place, safety and security.

* * *

It was mid afternoon when we settled down in the living room, Kate and Logan playing upstairs in their former bedroom. Clay had insisted that they stay indoors for the time being and I, for once, didn't argue.

Jeremy sat perched on the edge of his sofa. I offered to make up some coffee or tea but he waved me down, Clay and I taking seats across for him.

"Is everything alright Jeremy?" I asked.

He shook his head, "That Dr. Riven," he ran his hands over his face, "She knows."

I felt my heart skip a beat despite the fact that I had already been expecting this.

"She said that she detected unusual chromosome patterns in Nick's blood, abnormal gene arrangements that could have explained his ability to make it through a pipe stabbed right through his stomach, because if it was any regular person, it would have killed them right there on the spot," His voice was desperate, "She said that they were going to have to send a sample of his blood and paperwork to a lab and get it tested."

"Wait. Wouldn't they need to get permission from the relatives for the individual to be able to do that?" CLay said.

"Normally yes, but since Nick's blood showed signs of chromosome patterns that are unknown to medical knowledge, it's a matter of _national security_." Jeremy said the last two words with sarcasm.

"In other words he might have a dormant disease or virus or something that could turn to be deadly," I swore under my breath, forgetting that Kate and Logan were upstairs and I didn't have to mind my mouth. That would explain Jeremy's paleness earlier.

Jeremy continued, "But that's not all. Dr. Riven also said she was taking Nike's files home with her to study on the matter some more. I didn't really understand what she meant by that."

"What's there to understand?" Clay said, "The solution is easy. We find her address tonight."

Clay didn't need to say more. Jeremy nodded gravely, his expression tired. I understood. A threat had been posed, and even Jeremy couldn't deny the obvious way to relieve ourselves of this threat. That time with Clay and the technician, Jeremy had indeed tried _everything_ to get the technician to dispose of the sample of Clay's blood, but in the end, he still ended up killing him. Sometimes, things like this were impossible to avoid, and while I knew that Jeremy would once again do everything in his power to make this as less savage as possible, I couldn't see the end result occurring any other way.


	3. Chapter 2

**Mutt**

'Chapter Two'

Riven was an uncommon last name. A search through the phone book gave us one Riven in the entire state district, none of them with the first initial K. Though I couldn't help but think I've heard it before somewhere, I shoved the thoughts to be back of my mind and called on out second option. A witch on the interracial council, Paige.

As I suspected, Paige was not asleep yet. Night time was just about the only time she had to catch up on her day's work, all her other time was spent looking after Savannah's constantly arising needs as a teenager. Joining the larger supernatural circle did make things more convenient when it came to resources. Paige was a computer programmer and can hack into any data base imaginable. However, Jeremy still thought we should be a little self dependent.

"Kimberly J. Riven. Surgeon at Henderson General Hospital. Damn, how do you become a surgeon at this age? I wouldn't pin her a day over 25."

Paige had obviously been able to pull up a picture of her.

"I don't know, maybe late blooming hormones, or she uses an amazing facial cream. Tell you what? I'll take a look around at her bathroom for you. Now, what would her address be?"

Clicking of the keyboard, "1240 Brentwood Dr., or at least that's the address she's registered under in the hospital records."

I thanked Paige as Savannah voice screamed in the background, something about coco puffs for breakfast in the morning.

* * *

Kate and Logan we left with Jeremy while Clay and I went to hunt down Dr. Riven. Once again, Jeremy left me in charge of deciding the ultimate result when and if we found her. I thought about it, and as much as I knew it was wrong, I prayed that the address we had was a false one.

"Here it is," Clay parked the car across the road a few houses down. Her house was the only one on the block with all lights off. Which could have been good, she might have been asleep, making it job much easier considering you won't have to look into their terrified, confused eyes, or she could have been still at the hospital working a late shift, meaning we were in for a stake out.

I rolled down the window and took a deep breath of the night air. We'd decided to approach this in our human forms since we were dealing with a human. It just seemed like the most _humane_ way to do it.

"Does this feel wrong to you?" I couldn't help asking, expecting a definitely _no_ from Clay. But to my surprise, he took his time answering.

"Maybe."

I looked over and saw frustration in his blue eyes, his brows knitting together.

"It's wrong I know. But there's no other way to approach this." He elaborated.

"I've been thinking…do you remember what Jeremy did when he found you? Instead of just killing you, he decided to take you in and train you to be part of the Pack. You were a threat that no one had ever had any experience dealing with before and he still found a way around it."

"But we're dealing with sometime totally different here." He said, "She's not a werewolf or supernatural... just human. If our secret got out, she'd got nothing to loose. You can never predict what humans will do, Elena, so are we suppose to just take her word for it and relax?"

I was silent or a moment. I understood Clay, and can even sympathize with him. But sometimes, I wished he could do the same for me. "I know you might not remember what it was like to be human, how humans think. Heck, maybe you even _wanted_ to get out of your human life." I opened the car door and swung my legs out. "But I was human for a far long time than you were, and I embraced every moment of it…Let's get to work."

We stepped out into the night. By then it was just dark enough to be able to see someone out on the streets but not be able to make out their faces. Perfect timing as usual…we've been doing this for far too long. As we made our way up the driveway, keeping out of line from the windows just in case she was looking out by coincidence, I noted that the grass hadn't been trimmed in a while, adding to the eerie feel of the house as you looked up at it. It loomed over you, the shifting clouds in the back made it feel it was toppling over slowly.

We flipped over the six foot fence silently, so silently, the cat sleeping on the neighboring garbage can didn't so much as stir. Clay pressed his ear against the side door and listening. A moment later, he nodded to me indicating there was no one inside. A quick jiggle of the lock and the door refused to budge, even though it looked rot eaten enough to easily break off the hinges. Instead we found an unlocked window and slipped inside.

The interior reflected the exterior. Every inch of furniture was coated with a layer of dust that shifted as we moved through the rooms, so much that it made me sneeze, twice. Clay gave me a look like _could you be making more noise_? I shrugged.

Clay took the upstairs while I took the base floor. As far as I could tell, there was no basement or attic. Our goal, anything that could give us a heading of where she might be. A date book, a note on the fridge, a computer, but the only thing I'd managed to track down was a calendar of dogs flipped to May, of last year. By the looks of it, we really weren't going to find anything useful.

As I passed the fireplace mantel, a picture caught my eye. A closer look and I realized who it was, Dr. Riven, but much younger. My fingered rubbed away the dust that covered the glass. Back at the hospital I hadn't gotten a very good look at her. But the way she looked back at me, something in the set of her cheekbone, the tilting of her eyes, it just seemed like I've seen her somewhere before, in a picture that was long forgotten.

"Elena?"

Clay's voice caught me attention.

"Yeah?"

"Did you find anything?" he appeared around the corner.

"No." I took one last look at the photograph before heading out to join him.

"Well, that was a waste of time." He muttered as we walked to the car.

"You wouldn't be saying that if we'd actually found something."

"But we didn't. Did you see all that dust? I'd say, using my brilliant deductions, that a stake out is going to help either, unless she just happens to visit her old abandoned home the one night we show up."

"You're so negative. Have you ever-," I said, cutting myself off suddenly feeling a cold chill down the back of my neck. "Clay. Get into the car _quickly_."

He didn't need to be told twice. We bolted to either sides of the car. I had my hand on the handle when something suddenly ripped me off and threw me across the pavement with superhuman strength. I looked up to see a hooded figure, your typical thug in black gloves, black pants, and an oversized sweater with an oversized hood to hide his face. But this was no ordinary thug. One whiff of him and I could tell he was a werewolf. And even worse, werewolf thug brought a buddy. I could see Clay behind him taking on an identical clone of the one towering over me.

"Elena!"

Clay screamed while dodging the strikes of his attacker. With every movement of the guys arm, his sleeve fell over his hand, but every once in a while, I could see the tip of a blade reflecting off the glow of the moon light. And I could tell he wasn't a mere average fighter either. To be able to keep Clay at bay required skill, _true skill_.

"Elena run!"

_Like hell, I was running_! Idiot, doesn't he know enough about me by now to know that I'd never abandon him in a fight?

"Looking for Riven?" The thug looking over me said.

"What?"

"I said, are you looking for Riven?" The thug now had his own blade in his hand, annoyed to have had to repeat himself, "My buddy thought it was a waste of time, coming here and waiting for you, said that Riven wasn't listed in the phone book so how the hell were you suppose to find this place? But obviously you have connections, I mean after all, you are _the_ Pack right?"

The way he said Pack made my stomach turn. It was a mix of hate, jealousy, loathing, anger, envy all congealed into one.

"I thought you could do it, either way it doesn't take that much manpower to take down an old guy and a couple of scrubs. But anyways, I was right; you guys came, thumbs up to you. Now die."

"What?!"

That last part caught my attention, not the dying part, the part before that. I threw myself to my feet and dove out of the way of the incoming knife, missing the blow by less than an inch, too close. Nick mentioned following one drunk into the alley and being ambushed by another three. Two were here, which meant Jeremy was left at Stonehaven, alone, being pursued by two other werewolves of whom I presumed were just as skilled, if not more skilled, as these two, while protecting two toddlers. Panic stroke through me and the knife bite into my arm as I tried to jerk it away from a blow, staining my white coat red.

Clay noticed. As he tried to reach me his attackers flung himself at him, knife tip like a spear aiming for his chest. He caught it, with his left arm, his bad arm, and his muscle faltered. Instead of trying to stop the blade from coming, he pushed it away, tearing a wound right across his shoulder just above the heart.

It was a cowardly thing to do, and if I hadn't known that this was the last straw, the last glimmer of hope, I never would have done it. It had become clear that we were at a disadvantage. And with Jeremy by himself at home with the kids, I found it hard to concentrate at the task at hand. Both of us were injured. Clay was swaying badly, his movements forced and staggered. His hand was patched over his shoulder while blood was still staining the pavement. I knew I couldn't die here, no way, not without knowing what happened to the others, so I did the only thing I could have done. I turned on my human instincts and screamed. If I had had the time to pullout my cell phone and dial 911 myself, I would have done it and saved myself the embarrassment of the situation. With all these houses so tightly packed together, someone was bound to heave heard my scream and at last one person would have been smart enough, with enough decency, to call the police. Just in case though, I even threw in a '_please god! He's going to kill me_!'.

That shocked everyone. Werewolves, even mutts, never called for help from humans to save them. It was an unspoken law that everyone followed. If death was coming, you embraced it with honor. When both thugs froze in midair, their weapons poised to steal a glance my way, I could just imagine their facial expressions under those hoods. Even Clay stopped to stare at me before taking the opening I'd created for him to lunge at his attacker. I didn't feel ashamed. I was special, I was the only female werewolf and not only that; I was the only known female werewolf who had given birth to cubs. I deserved a little exception.

Clay had managed to position himself between me and the two thugs. They had us back up against a fence in seconds.

"What kind of a warrior are you?" My attacker asked incredulously, "I heard the only female werewolf was just as tough as anyone, or am I missing something? You're a fucking damsel in distress like every other pathetic human out there!"

I winced. That one hit home. Obviously, he was the chattier of the two.

He lunged, at Clay, so fast I didn't see him move before it was too late. He shot the blade into Clay's stomach. Clay folded over, his arms grabbing at the weapon wielding hand. I couldn't see whether he was wounded though. I threw myself at him just as headlights flashed on, blinding us all. In the light I managed to swipe a look at the two thugs's faces before grabbing Clay and fleeing, another thing we werewolves weren't supposed to do.

"Hey!"

"Don't move!"

Gunshots sounded behind us but I didn't slow. We tore through the bushes and discovered that the heavens had indeed answered our calls as we found ourselves in the middle of a parking lot, full of cars.

Breaking the window of the closest one within my reach and throwing Clay into the back seat, I fumbled with the ignition just as flashlights came through the bushes. I snapped on the headlights overpowering them, and wheeling backwards out of the lot...


	4. Chapter 3

**Mutt**

'Chapter Three'

I found us a nice motel on the edge of town, a place so rundown that even if the tenant brought in a 200 pound rottweiler they wouldn't have questioned them, must less two individuals covered in blood. But just in case, I shed my jacket to wrap around Clay and pretended we'd just gotten into town from an overnight party and needed a place to crash. It worked well actually; Clay had the slurred speech, drugged over eyes, staggering steps and everything.

I'd tried to clean out our wounds as best as I could. Clay had a giant slash over his shoulder, which caused his heart to loose massive blood, and a smaller cut along his stomach. I was in much better shape, thankful that my guy liked talking.

I knew that the other two mutts must have been at Stonehaven already. After staring at my cell phone for about five minutes debating whether or not to call Jeremy, I spent another ten minutes pacing the ground looking back at Clay every two second to make sure he was still breathing. The anxiety was killing me. I couldn't leave Clay here by himself injured like this, but I still had to get back to Stonehaven as soon as possible. Frustration welled up, helplessness welled up, and I gave a furious grunt, whipping a pillow at the wall.

"Darling," a croaked voice.

I swear I'd never been happier to hear that word. Rushing to Clay's side, I positioned myself behind his head to ease him up.

He muffled something and I immediately moved to remove the bandages wrapped around his mouth.

"I'm not dead yet Elena. You don't have to mummify me." He tugged at my sad attempts at bandaging.

"I tried. Are you feeling alright?"

"Aw…nothing a few days, a bottle of Tylenol, and a nice night with you wouldn't fix."

I gave him a look, as much as I wanted to call him on that joke, "Get a grip Clay, we have other things to worry about."

"Like?"

"Like the safety of Jeremy and the twins."

I told him what the werewolf thug had said to me and saw the panic rise to his eyes just as fast as it did me. I then considered whether I should have tied him down to the bed post first. Clay jumped off the bed to his feet as soon as the last word fell from my mouth.

"Fucking bastards!"

"Clay! I really think you should-."

My warning came a might too late as he took one step and starting toppling forward. I reached out and leveled him, "We almost lost to those mutts before when we weren't injured. If we just jump into this then it's pure suicide."

"So what are you suggesting? Stay here, hole up and wait to hear it on eight o'clock news?!"

I was torn. I really was. The situation was terrible and so far, I could see no way out of it. Clay was injured badly, and even if we tried a sneak attack from downwind, his blood would give us away immediately. Right now, we had no idea how Jeremy was doing or even if he was alive. Since when did the Pack become so unable to help itself? The thug's '_fucking damsel in distress_' comment floated up to my brain, but I pushed it down as best as I could, and once again, I did the only thing that could have been done.

"Elena…Are you alright?"

Paige must have immediately caught the hick in my voice, and I'd only said _hello_, barely able to make the words form.

"Paige." I took a deep breath. "I need your help."

Paige agreed to check out the house with Lucas while Clay and I got ready and made our way over. Flooring it at 180 miles an hour would probably get them there in approximately four hours, still too much time, so Paige assured me she would take care of the time gap by calling up some people. I didn't press for detailed and trusted her with the plan.

Clay wasn't too happy with the idea. Actually, not too happy was an understatement.

"You're mad aren't you?" I said as I stitched up his gaping wound as best as I could. I was no Jeremy yet.

He said nothing, but the rigidity of his shoulders and the way he gripped the bed post was my answer. Not only did he not like Paige, but I knew that this was as degrading for him as singing _Mary had a little lamb_ at our weekly parent-child social clubs. Having to ask for other to help when this was clearly werewolf matter and unable to do anything himself, it was killing his self dignity. I pressed my forehead against his shoulder and clutched my teeth tight. This was killing me as well.

Werewolves healed fast, but it still took time. Unlike vampires, who were exactly their Hollywood counterparts and regenerated every time they got wounded, werewolves couldn't heal nearly as fast. But the clock was ticking and when Clay decided he was going to do his healing on the car ride over to Stonehaven, I didn't argue. I did however, fight him to drive the car.

I'd called Antonio to discover that he'd already touched down and told him to go directly to the hospital to watch over Nick. Also I told him to be on the lookout for a Dr. Kimberly Riven who was suppose to be tending to him, and not to let her out of his tracking range, though I doubted she'd be there. It wasn't a six sense; targets never appeared on the map in the most convenient places when you wanted them to.

Clay and I had been silent on the way over, neither of us wanting to discuss the possible outcome of what lay ahead. But I knew our thoughts must have been pretty much on the same lines.

So engrossed in my own terrors, when Clay finally said something as we parked just outside the trees of Stonehaven, I jumped.

He looked over at me, "We should Change."


	5. Chapter 4

**Mutt**

'Chapter Four'

We slithered our way up to Stonehaven in our changed forms. By then the sun had already risen, but there were still enough shadows to hide ourselves. I kept my nose alert for any smells that may have indicated Paige and Lucas coming in, or Jeremy and the kids going out, but caught nothing, it was as if everything was normal.

Clay suddenly caught my attention as I nearly bumped into his hindquarters. His muzzle was pointed towards the trail just beyond the trees we were traveling through. His gaze narrowing as I realized what he meant. _Someone was there_.

The figure of a wolf, huge, the top of his fur reaching well above the bushes, moved through the foliage, not caring to hide his position as if he owned the place. I didn't recognize him from his scent so I assumed he was one of the two in charge of taking care of Jeremy and the twins last night.

Clay couched and followed him on one side hidden under the bushes while I circled around to follow him on the other, being careful to remain down wind. My belly nearly to the ground as I slinked in and out of the maze of branches, bending my body so that no twig would snap catching his attention. We trailed him for about 20 yards as he seemed to be heading towards the house. Then he suddenly broke into a run. Clay and I looked at each other, deciding in a split second whether we should chase after him, or if this was actually a trap. We decided to take the risk.

We flanked him on either side. This mutt, again, was no amateur. His speed alone was enough to convince us. He wove in and out of the thickets, cutting perfect ninety degrees corners, while keeping us both in check. His direction was east, despite his loops and turns, heading towards the river. Maybe he intended to throw us off his trail by running through water. Clay gave a grunt my way and bolted ahead, leaving me to herd him up, chasing him by the tail. This was _our_ territory, and no one was going to best us on our own land. I managed to keep speed with him, no ground lost and no ground gained. The mutt continued heading east until I could hear the sound of rushing water. My foreleg ached from the wound yesterday, and dealing with Clay's more serious ones, I hadn't gotten the chance to stitch mine up.

Ahead, the mutt tore free from the trees into the clearing of the river bank. I heard his claws hit the pebbles with full force. I wheeled to a stop just before I hit the clearing. I had enough experience to know that sixty percent of the chance a situation like this was likely an ambush. Clay loved to play this trick when we chased each other around. But a sniff of the air the wind brought towards me told me the way was clear. I stepped slowly from the protection of the trees, cautious of his position in relative to mine.

He was standing there, facing me, his back to the river, front paws braced, tail swishing back and forth as if saying, "Come get me if you can."

A low growl escaped his lips, as he darted forward towards me at full speed like an angry bull, eyes locked on mine, snorting and snuffling as he charged. I back pedals and feinted out of the way of his path, throwing me off balance. But he never passed me. Before he came within a meter of me, he suddenly made a swish, three hundred and sixty degree turn, and bolted straight for the river. He was going to jump.

The river was an average width. Just wide enough so that one leap wasn't going to get you across, but as I looked I realized that at some point in time, a good sized rock had just been able to peek through the surface. That bastard! He knew that was there all along.

The mutt was almost twice my size. It probably would have been safer just to let him go, or wiser to wait for Clay to back me up. But there was no time. I regained my balance and darted right after him, my smaller size making me like a bullet just fired fresh from the barrel. As he leaped into the air, I was right on his tail, my teeth clamping down on his hind leg in mid air. His aim toggled and we broke through the surface of the flowing river, giving me a nose full of water.

I kicked for the bottom but felt none. A sharp pain suddenly hit me on my foreleg. The current caught me in its inevitable pull, tugging me along like tumbleweeds in the wind. When I finally broke surface, I saw that the mutt wasn't fairing any better. He was flailing in the water, struggling to keep himself afloat. If swimming was his weakness than I would have considered myself the luckiest ass in the world. I stop thinking about him and started worrying about a way out. The river led to the damn, which emptied into a water processing plant full of high pressure and lots unpleasant things.

My eyes landed on a tree trunk toppled over the river just barely above the surface of the rushing water. How it got there, I had no clue, but wasn't about to ask any question and prayed that it wasn't going to give away at my weight. I twisted and turned, thrashing around until I got in the path of the trunk coming up fast. I threw myself from the water and clung onto the bark for dear life, squeezing my eyes shut. Amazingly, the trunk tottered a bit, but stayed where it was. I balanced myself on the branch, wheezing and sneezing out water from my lungs. Another movement of the wood made me whip my head back. The mutt had somehow managed to chomp onto a branch as well, his eyes blazing with fiery as he clawed his way up to the trunk, hind legs kicking violently in a desperate struggle. I had to get off before the entire thing started floating away.

A couple of stumbles as I sped as fast as I could down the trunk for the bank, realizing there was another wolf at the end waiting for me. I almost attacked him for him to get the hell out of my way before I realized who he was and darted around him onto the solid river bank, collapsing from exhaustion, mentally making a note for myself to do a few more rounds at the pool when all this was over. The mutt wasn't too far behind, his muscles pushed to get to safety, anything to keep from another dip in the river. But as he was a leap away from the bank, the wolf lashed out, catching him by the throat in a quick strike. A metallic scent filled the air as I saw the mutt's throat open with a spray of blood and his body falling back into the river along with the trunk that the wolf had been keeping steady.

Marsten stepped over me, grunting, his teeth and lips dripping with blood. He pranced back and forth giving me another impatient grunt. I tried to get to all fours but toppled forward, suddenly realizing the red gash on my foreleg. A little scratch yesterday and today after all this excitement it was a red mash of decaying skin. I limped my way towards the trees. Marsten stepped in my way and pointed his muzzle towards the bushes, he wanted me to Change. When I snapped at him and tried to keep walking…err limping. He shoved me over, flaring his nostrils.

I looked up him. Marsten wasn't the first wolf that I'd trust. His history with the Pack, even though he was now officially part of the Pack, wasn't outstanding. But he had somehow managed to be there in the nick of time just as I needed help. _Coincidence?_ I figured I'd at least heard him out, and headed behind the bush.

The Change took longer than usual, my body somehow drained of energy, which made sense. I hadn't had anything to eat since last night, and drowning took a lot out of ya. I wasn't surprised when I came out to see Marsten was already done, and fully clothed, whilst I, was buck naked. In front of Clay or Jeremy I wouldn't have cared. In fact with Clay we were almost never dressed due to the usual after run activities. I was glad when Marsten shunned his eyes away when I stepped out and held out his jacket, "Come on. The others would probably be waiting for us."

_Others?_ I suddenly remembered Paige and Lucas.

We marched out way up to Stonehaven. My arm ached and I struggled to keep the painful look of my face. It turned out that Paige had contacted Marsten realizing that he was nearby in a conference, and guilted him into ditching his conference for the well-being and protection of his Pack. Marsten, having skipped out on Christmas, reluctantly agreed.

It was easy to overlook things at times. For example Christmas, when we invited him over a week in advance, he said he'd think about it. But the day of he suddenly had a surprise meeting that required immediate attention. Who organizes meetings on Christmas Eve? To us, at the moment, it was a show of him distancing himself from the rest of the Pack. But after the immediate anger was gone, I started to think. Marsten, despite his solitude, had come through for us many times before whether or not he'd wanted to do so. As a former mutt, he was always on the outside, exiled by the Pack, even witness his father being killed _by_ the Pack. Yet he'd decided to join the very people who'd thought he was nothing more than an insignificant cockroach. And even now, as he'd just saved my life and killed for me, I hadn't even considered thanking him for it.

It made me think. Mutts were supposed to be power hungry, no good, savages. But what about those who haven't been brought up to despise the Pack, living on the outside, looking for a way in, a place to belong, like Marsten, but wouldn't even be given a chance.


	6. Chapter 5

**Mutt**

'Chapter Five'

Lucas and Paige were at the house already, tending to Clay. When I came in the front door Paige rushed over to me and checked me up and down, making sure I was alright, "Thank god Elena, we'd been worried sick about you. What did you do? Fall in the lake?"

I beamed, "Actually it was the river." I rushed over to Clay's side. He was sprawled on the recliner, his top bare as Lucas worked on his wounds. A lump rose to my throat as I saw he'd obtained new ones since the last time we'd seen each other.

"What happened to that mutt?" his voice was gasped.

"Dead. Marsten killed him."

Clays eyes slowly trailed over to Marsten standing by the doorway and nodded, his way of saying thanks. Marsten did the same.

"What happened to you?"

Paige jumped in before Clay could waste anymore breath, "There was another one. When Lucas and I rushed over here we found him battling against this other mutt. But between the three of us we were able to fend him off. He's still alive though."

"And he wasn't one of the ones that attacked up last night." Clay said in almost a whisper, his eyes were closed, "There's also no sign of Jeremy or the kids. Everything in the house is just as they would have left them."

Lucas finished up and Clay's wound and motioned for me to come over so he could work on mine. I looked down at my arm, and then at my naked legs, "Um…I think I'm going to go put on some clothes."

I didn't know exactly what to feel about the information. As I headed upstairs I passed the twin's room, colour books sprawled across the floor, the tv paused on a picture of Arthur canoeing in a lake. Clay never approved of them watching that show, especially since half the characters on it would soon become dinner for us. Like he said, everything was just as they would have left them. I didn't know whether to feel relieved or concerned. There were no signs of a struggle, but I knew I couldn't stop worrying until they were within arms length of a hug.

I pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, shoving a brush painfully through my damp hair and pulling it back into a ponytail. As I looked at myself in the mirror, I suddenly realized something, my dossiers, and mentally kicked myself for not thinking of it sooner.

I'd spent years collecting information about every mutt that'd been known to existence. It had been my consultation for more than once occasion. I was bound to have something on at least one of the mutts.

Flipping through its pages, loose photos went flying everywhere. Too excited about this new lead, I'd forgotten all about Lucas downstairs waiting to tend to my wounds. A name caught my attention and my heart skipped a beat. Derek Munro, American mutt, lived in New York, the last time I'd encountered him was when I took my brief leave from the Pack in pursuit of a normal life. After failing miserably at the attempt and realizing my rightful place still belonged here, I'd returned to the Pack. But while on my short leave, I'd noting Munro in New York, but having been at the moment trying to relieve myself of my Pack duties, I'd simply dismissed him. A moment later and I was flying down the stairs, tripping on the last step and landing smack into the arms of Marsten coming up to get me. I managed a quick '_thanks'_ before bounding off the Clay.

Putting together the clues from our encounters with the four mutts, we'd managed to identify most them. Derek was one. Clay's old rival Cain, whom we'd left with a broken jaw on our honeymoon, was another. It wasn't surprising to find him wanting revenge. The guy was never going to find another sober girl willing to kiss him again. The one that Marsten had killed was Dalton, a Canadian mutt from the north, lots of open space, forests, not surprising that he had so much speed. But the one that attacked Clay before Paige and Lucas showed up was still a mystery. Though we discovered one more thing as we flipped through the pages.

"With Jeremy's reputation, they'll think that with a little negotiating they could get whatever they want," Clay said, "Marsten is a perfect example of a throw-over attempt gone good."

"So what does that mean?" Paige said.

"It means we should be expecting a photo sent of Jeremy with a daily newspaper. They won't kill him as long as he promises them whatever they want." Marsten replied.

Clay shook his head, "Jeremy would never do that. You only got your land because you helped us. These fucking bastards don't deserve anything."

"Maybe. But even if Jeremy refused to oblige to their demands they're not going to be stupid enough to kill him while you two are still on the loose," Paige said.

Lucas nodded, adding onto her, "The intelligent thing to do would be to deliver a threat, take them as hostages and make demands. Meeting them at such and such time at such and such place or else they kill them."

"Which you obviously wouldn't agree to. Since its suicide spelt with capital letter." Boy, they really were like one mind two bodies.

"But!" Clay cut himself off and grunted, "I'm done waiting. I'm done sitting here nursing my wounds while Jeremy and my kids are in the hands of psychopaths who might snap and decide to kill them at any given moment."

I couldn't have agreed with him more. But I knew if Jeremy was in my position he'd never do anything so foolish. He'd think it through calmly and decide the most reasonable solution. Just another thing that reminded me that I was no where near ready to take on Alfa. To distract myself, I flipped through the pages of my dossier. Just as the room went silent after Clay's last comment, my eyes locked on a picture. An old one, of a mutt that had already been eliminated.

About 12 years ago, there had been an uproar in killings in Miami. Bodies were found literally everywhere. Citizens were scared shit to leave their homes as soon as the sun started to fall. But it soon spread to not only the streets but people's houses. A husband would kiss his wife goodnight and go to bed only to wake up the very next morning to find her chest ripped open beside him. It seemed like too much for the doings of just one mutt so it was assumed that every mutt in the vicinity had gotten together and just decided to go on a killing spree, whether it was to make a point or simply for blood lust, the answer was never found. The Pack, under Dominic's rule, did however, send its members to eliminate every mutt there was in Miami, which now I presumed was more out of fear. It seemed to work, after a few weeks the killings had stopped, or slowed. That was who Barry Olsten was, mutt that was executed without concrete evidence of his involvement in the whole ordeal, but simply because he was a mutt outside the law of the Pack. As I looked at Olsten's picture, I found myself looking straight into the eyes of Kimberly Riven.

"Did you smell that?" Clay eyed me when I showed him the picture.

"The odd scent at the front steps."

"Yeah, it's her. She was at the house."

"But it's odd," I placed my chin on my palm, biting down hard, "Her scent wasn't even in the house, it was just outside."

"Doesn't matter," he said, "Remember everything she said to Jeremy. I bet she only said that to lure us to that abandoned house. She had access to hospital records meaning she'd have no problems finding this place-"

"Any mutt knows where Stonehaven is."

"-and it would make sense that she'd want revenge for her father."

"But that was twelve years ago, why would she wait that long to act?"

"Because she's not an idiot. Riven isn't a wolf Elena, daughters don't get the werewolf gene remember? She was probably waiting for the right opportunity, the right chance to make her move, but she couldn't make it on her own so she waited until now and aligned herself with the four mutts to get back at us. She's one of them. She could have pretended to be an innocent woman at the door and Jeremy wouldn't know the difference because she doesn't carry a werewolf smell. And when he opened the door, bam!"

"There weren't any traces of the mutts in here either remember?"

I don't know why I was defending her. True, all evidence pointed to Riven being a traitorous snake. But something about her, maybe it was her youth, or her bouncy brown curls that made me think someone with the healing touch of a doctor couldn't possibly want to hurt anyone, especially two children who hadn't done any harm to anyone except pick flowers from other people's gardens.

I looked at Clay, "You were involved in the killing of Olsten weren't you? You and Nick."

Clay opened his mouth but I was faster, "And don't say, '_and that would explain why Nick was attacked too. God Elena, get a grip and smell the evidence._'"

"If you know then why ask?"

"I was just wondering, when you killed him, didn't you feel any remorse, any guilt for it? I mean, I know orders are orders but, there may have been a chance that he was innocent."

Clay looked at me dumbfounded for a moment, and then sighed, a painful expression now on his face, "No. Don't get me wrong or anything, I feel it now, killing unjustly, but back then it was different. Dominic didn't care for moral rights. Heck, if it hadn't been for Jeremy, he would have had me killed too when I was found. His soul interest was to protect the Pack. But now I can see that it wasn't to protect that Pack itself but the Pack's secrets. Mutts had to die. There was no exception. No one looked at them and thought, hmmm… I wonder if that mutt has a back-story to him that I might want to listen to. I can see the unfairness now, but at the time, it was a job, he was a mutt, end of story, no evidence needed."

I pressed no further. Knowing this tadpole of information, we decided the best move was the try and track down Kimberly Riven, and the only lead we had on her was the last time we'd seen her, at the hospital. I called Antonio and asked if he'd seen any signs of her. He said no, not surprising. But we decided to head over anyways, just in case there was a trail that I could follow.


	7. Chapter 6

**Mutt**

'Chapter Six'

We left Lucas and Paige at the house to do more research on any recent activities or on _anything _that could have been of help, and if any letters were going to magically drop down the chimney or a box mysteriously appearing on the front steps holding something I hoped would still be attached to its rightful place on the body, they'd let us know. We took Marsten with us. This was werewolf matter and having another added member to the team wasn't going to hurt. I kept the promise to myself though, that after this was all over I'd thank him properly for everything he's done. I thought that thanking him now would only make things more complicated. Better to leave the awkwardness to a time when there would be a definite gap between the next times we met.

We arrived at the hospital about twenty minute later. Lucas and Paige had suggested having lunch before heading out but one look at Clay and I knew neither of us was in the mood to stomach food, so we grabbed some granola bars to eat on the ride over.

The day was the exact opposite of yesterday. The sun beamed down on the pavement creating waves of heat that made the air quiver. I hated it, especially since the Jeep Dodge Paige had lent us was black front hood to bumper. By the time we stepped out of the car, I had beads of sweat rolling down my chest, wonderful. Clay decided to pay the overpriced hospital parking and parked underground where the vehicle would at least get a chance to cool down.

"I bet you're wishing for rain now," I said jokingly to him as we headed to the staff parking zone assuming that Riven had a car. Her scent perpetrated the area, but it was very faint, indicating she hadn't been here for a while.

We headed to the front lobby of the hospital. Once again, the faint trail of Riven's scent was there. We followed it out the door, to our displeasure, being hit with a giant heat wave, a clear contrast of the cooler inner air conditioning. The trail led us down the sidewalk to a crossing light, across the streets and back down the street to a little coffee shop almost directly in front of the hospital, good to know she wasn't a violator of J walking.

We walked inside. The shop was a little small to afford air conditioning so instead a giant fan rotated from the front counter. Two boys were shoving each other out of the way of the wind, moving with the movement of the face. I walked up to the only cashier standing behind the counter. He was a bulky kind of guy, had a hat dipped over his brows despite the hot weather. When he looked up and saw me, a huge grin spread over his face.

"Well what can I get for you little lady?"

Little lady? I was nearly fourty for crying out loud! Even if werewolves have extended youths I wouldn't consider anyone looking thirty to be a little lady. I gave him a grimace and walked over, Clay behind me, Marsten still outside. "How's the business?"

He chuckled, "Good, I would dare ask for more. You see, it's just me and my boys." He nodded over to the blond kids fighting over possession of the fan.

"Do you serve a lot of regulars here?" I turned my gaze back to him, "I see there's a hospital just across the street."

"I suppose so"

"Do you remember a Kimberly Riven ever coming here? She's doctor at the hospital." Clay cut right to the chase, so much for my wheeling-him-in tactic.

Before the man had the chance to reply, a voice chirped beside us, "Yeah! She comes here all the time!" One of the blond boys forfeited his share of the fan and bounded over. He lifted his elbow to reveal the remains of a cut.

"Yeah, Kim," the cashier said, "She's one of the regulars, must have extended hours at the hospital or something, come in more than anyone else. Uh, usually gets a coffee and newspaper." He nodded towards his son, "Kim's always patching 'um up too."

He made her sound like a saint. His sons were always getting into trouble, the nature of boys at that age. But because the shop hadn't been doing so well do to inflation, he hadn't had the money to take them to the hospital to get check ups. Riven would do that for him, stitching up their wounds, fixing broken legs with home made casts, eventually growing a bond with them. She had been a very close friend of the family, even came to the funeral when his wife passed away to give her condolences.

He brought us come coffee while we talked. Surprisingly, I found myself believing every word of it. Maybe there was more to this Riven person than right out revenge. After he finished, I gave him our thanks and nudged Clay out the door, grabbing a newspaper on the way out.

"What do you think?" I said as we joined Marsten.

"He's lying."

"What do you honestly think?"

"He's lying!"

"Clay!"

"What?!"

"You can't honestly think that, after that speech, after everything good he'd said about her? Can't you for once stop looking at the obvious and dig a little deeper?"

"Alright fine. He's exaggerating. She comes in, slaps a bandage she keeps in her purse on the kid, and they think of her as part of the family?"

"Hopeless!"

A buzzing in my pocket and I fished out my cell phone, turning my back to Clay. Paige's voice rang on the other side, "Lucas was reading today's paper and guess what we found on the front page?"

Clay was already snatching one from the news stand just outside the coffee shop. He frowned and held it up for me to read.

"Australian immigrants denied entry to country?" In big bolded letter across the front. I was doubting Paige's researching skills at this point.

"No! well yes, but no. Look at who the article is_ by_." Paige said.

I squinted in the sun, reading the much more insignificant print on the bottom right hand corner of the title. There written in italics, was the name of the author. _Laura Riven_. Of course, only Lucas would have been able to pick up on this minute detail on a page of a hundred thousand words.

"Paige. Please tell me this is what it looks to be."

"You bet it is. I did some researching on this Laura Riven and it turns out she's a journalist originally from Miami. A little more digging and I found out she was once married, had a kid, but then for some strange reason divorced her husband, abandoned her kid and moved to New York to work for the papers there."

_Riven._ That's why it had sounded so familiar to me when I first heard it. I remember reading about her while I was still in school, one of the top journalists of her time. Laura Riven. Could she be the mother of Kimberly Riven? It would certainly make sense for her to leave her husband, after discovering that he was a mutt, I could understand how she wouldn't have wanted anything to do with their kids either. Even if she never knew of his true nature, werewolves couldn't avoid doing strange things like disappearing for lengths at a time or vanishing in the middle of the night. Any normal woman would have been smart to hightail out of there while she still could.

"Paige. I need you to find out her address for me. The sooner the better."

"I'm one step ahead of you. She lives at 48 Main street south, apartment 509, New York."

I was never going to doubt her researching skills ever again.

"Thanks Paige. We're going after her." I waved to Clay, and was about to repeat the address for him to write down when Marsten grabbed my wrist. He took the phone from my hand.

"Yeah thanks Paige. If we need anything we'll call." He snapped the phone shut cutting off what I thought was Paige saying 'wait. Elen-'.

"What are you doing?" I snatched the phone back from him. But Clay took me in his grasp, tossing the paper back on the stand. He pulled me close into an embrace.

"Don't look now. But there's someone watching us." He whispered gently in my ear.

I snapped on my mental headlights and scanned our surroundings. It was no use. The mutts must have been downwind from us. I looked back up at Clay as he released me, mouthing, "What now?"

We went back into the shop. As I moved I caught a glimpse of a silver Ford parked a few blocks down, I could have sworn for a split second when the wind changed directions that I smelt mutt. Once inside, we replayed the plan to each other for five minutes.

I went up to the counter, "um…Mr. Cashier person."

The guy chuckled at me, "Jim."

"Okay, Jim. Do you have a back door in here?"


	8. Chapter 7

**Mutt**

'Chapter Seven'

Clay and I went out through the front, fully aware of being in plain view of our pursuer. We walked casually down the block to the cross light and casually crossed going back to the hospital parking lot. The coffee shop did have a back door, complete with the stinking smell of rotting garbage. But we couldn't risk taking it. If we were gone, and the mutts realized they'd lost their prey, they expend their frustration by going after Nick.

Clay and I drove out from the parking lot in Paige's Jeep. As we expected, the silver Ford followed close. Keeping just a few cars behind, another sign that this was no ordinary idiot, he'd obviously had experience with vehicle stalking, appearing only once in a while in our rear view mirror.

While we were playing bait, we trusted that Marsten would be rounding up the end. He'd gone through the back door and found himself a car with one way looking glass. Having to have had to punch out one of the windows, it kinda defeated the purpose but the front shield window was all he needed. Considering our pursuers were skilled enough to keep out of our view, this is way, we had the silver Ford sandwiched between us. While they he they were stalking us, Marsten was following him, making sure he didn't make any unexpected turns to keep track of him. He'd called already to report that the car contained only one visible figure, and expectantly reeked of werewolf. I could understand his hesitance to use the word _mutt._

As we hit the freeway there was less cars to hide amongst and our views of him became more frequent. We still headed in the direction of New York, but there was no way we were taking him with us into the city.

"Do you think he's keeping his distance because he's waiting for back up?" I said.

"Probably, no mutt in his right mind would attack being outnumbered."

After about ten miles, I pointed to a rest station to our left. Clay nodded and turned in, slowing down his speed significantly while pulling into the gas pumps as if expecting a deer to pop out at any moment. I knew he was making the sure mutt knew he was stopping here. The station was surrounded by bushes of what looked like the Australian outback. We were the only ones there at the moment, which was a good thing, only one cashier to worry about in the store. Clay and I filled up our vehicle and quickly walked into the store. I headed straight for the back.

"Where are you going?" Clay said.

"To the bathroom." I answered.

"Oh right. We'll lure him around back and you can ambush him there."

"Yeah. That and I've really got to go. I think that coffee didn't quite agree with me."

A call from Marsten a few minutes later said that the mutt had also pulled into the station. I did my business hastily and popped open the bathroom window, a damn good view of dry vegetated land unfolding before me. I hopped out and pressed my back against the brick wall, waiting until I heard the dull smack of fist hitting flesh. Footsteps thumped loser and I counted. Three. Two. One.

The mutt rounded the corner in what looked like an attempt to get away, Marsten right on his heels. His gaze locked with mine and kept charging. Whether he knew I was a werewolf for not didn't matter, there was no way a female could best the dominant male type. Bullshit. It's arrogance like that that really makes me angry sometimes.

I tackled him, wrapping my arms around his legs as we both crashed to the ground. We rolled through the gravel, him kicked and biting, me trying to keep my hold. Eventually I managed to get him under me and pinned him to the ground, but a flailing arm hit my wound with full force and I jerked back. He lunged at me, teeth snapping, dirty fingers grabbing for my throat. Suddenly, a shovel rose up behind him and clocked him dead in the center of his head. I rolled to one side as he hit the ground where I had just been. Clay dropped his shovel and tore a strip of duct tape as Marsten held the mutt still.

"Where did you get those?" I said.

"Department section." Clay answered. He finished binding the mutt's wrists and ankles before jerking his head up by the hair and onto his knees. "As you can see you're outnumbered three to one, so I would suggest telling us what we want to know before anything regrettable happens to you. Wait, let me rephrase that. Before I rip out your fucking intestines, dig out your eyes and throw you in the river to feed the fish."

"Clay." I waved him off, time to play hero. Sitting back on my heels, I leveled myself with him, "I understand that you may have some resentment against the Pack. And I understand that most mutts do. It's a problem that we haven't yet figured out a way of solving, but right now that's not the problem. If you can tell us where to find the Pack members you've taken, I can guarantee your life."

Clay snorted.

"Despite what Clay says. Pretty fair trade don't you think?"

The mutt looked up at me and imitated Clay.

I stood up. "Go ahead and dig his eyes out." My patience was seriously wearing a little thin at the moment.

He then proceeded to imitate me in the tone he'd just imitated Clay.

We looked at each other, wondering what the right move was. Part of me wanted to kill him, knowing if we let him go he'd only be a threat. But part of me thought back to the dossiers, wishing Jeremy was here to give us some direction.

Marsten was flipping through the guy's wallet, "Robert Hayes." He handed us the wallet. A new addition to the dossier, I didn't have any record of this one. Hayes was the one that attacked Clay when we returned to Stonehaven.

Hayes suddenly opened his mouth, "Karl Marsten."

Marsten stiffened, keeping his gaze on us away from the mutt.

"That is you're name isn't it?" he suddenly became very chatty, "Cain told us about you. He said that his dad worked with you on an operation to throw over the Pack a few years back."

"Shut it Hayes. Another word and I'll-," Clay said.

"You're what? Kill me. Yeah I know, every outsider knows. Geez, its like death is the only card you have to play. But guess what? We're use to it. You understand, don't you Marsten? After all you use to be one of us. Shit, and now you're working or these losers. What's that all about?"

"He's not working for us." I cut in, "He's a member of the Pack too. A Pack brother."

I found myself amazed at the words coming out of my mouth. Did I just jump to Marsten's defense? Marsten looked at me with a look I didn't quite understand, either telling me to shut up, or he really appreciated the thought, true or not.

"Oh shut your trap hole! And stop acting so up there. Once a mutt, always a mutt, and there's nothing that could be done to change what happened in the past or to forget it. A grudge is a grudge until the bitter end of time."

I'd heard enough. I reached out, grabbed him by the neck, one hand on the top of his head. His voice was muffled in my sleeve but not enough that I couldn't make out some words that definitely would change an A rated movie to R. I looked at Marsten, "May I?"

Marsten nodded, his eyes closed. I snapped the Hayes's neck.


	9. Chapter 8

**Mutt**

'Chapter Eight'

We continue to head towards New York in silence, ditching Marsten's stolen car and cramping into the Jeep. It was nightfall by the time we finally made it into the city, even though besides the darkened sky no one would know the difference. The city was just as alive at night as during the day. We stopped at a convenience store to snag a map. When I stepped out of the car, I nearly fell over. Clay had to catch me from falling to the pavement. He waved Marsten ahead while we stayed in the car.

"Feeling a bit lightheaded?" He said.

I nodded, touching a hand to my stomach. "It's not growling though."

"That's what happens. When you don't eat for so long you body shuts down and forgets it's hungry. He looked down the street. "We'll grab some pizzas for take out and fill up okay? You can't fight on an empty stomach."

I managed a weak smiled, "Neither can you."

Three extra large pizzas topped with pepperoni, mushrooms, extra cheese, olives, anchovies, and jalapeno peppers, and meatballs, exney on the anchovies for Clay who had a severe dislike on seafood. One pizza for each of us, ten minutes, and three empty boxes to go in the recycling, just what I needed. With our bellies full, we continued our pursuit on 48 Main street south.

Clay circled our car around the block of the apartment twice before deciding it was safe to enter. It surprised me how a journalist of her stature was living in such a rundown place like this. There was no security system to worry about; the only security feature was penetrable by the sharp twist of the doorknob. We snuck in through the back door and up the stairs getting a nice whiff of tobacco as we moved up the stairs the smell morphed from tobacco, to cocaine, to old people. Laura Riven's floor stank of cats, despite the no pets allowed symbol at the base of the stairwell. There was an elevator but we didn't trust it.

I looked from Clay to Marsten to myself. Maybe it was the cramped narrow hallway but it seemed like three people for the job was just too much. If we wanted information from her, we didn't want her to be afraid of us. So Clay and Marsten agreed to stay outside in the hall and out of view while I rapped on the door. It was a small apartment, and with them able to hear every word from inside I wasn't worried.

When I knocked for the second time and there was no answer, my heart sank. I shook my head and the guys pressed their ears up against the wall listening for any sounds inside.

"Excuse me."

All three of us jumped to see a short women standing behind us. When did she get there? I needed sleep. In her skinny arms she held a grocery bag, a purse strapped over her left shoulder. She wore glasses and looked to old to have her dark brown hair tied in a ponytail so high up on her head. No mistake in it. Kimberly Riven had obtained her eyes and cheekbones from her father. But the rest of the features were purely her mother's.

"Can I help you?"

"Um…" I found myself at a loss for words, caught off guard and unable to find a decent start.

"Good evening miss, we were looking for Laura Riven," Marsten saved me. As a grand thief extraordinaire, I suspected that this was one of his strengths, having been caught in the most unexpected of situations all the time.

"That would be I. What can I do for you folks?"

Her voice came out so secure, so pleasant, and here I was worrying that two big bulky guys showing up at her door would make her nervous. Time to put my specialty into play.

"We were wondering if we could speak with you about a possible article. My name is Elena Michaels and I'm also a journalist."

I saw her brows lift ever so slightly as if processing this information.

"I've read some of your work and I was wondering if I could borrow a few minutes of your time."

I searched my brain, trying to put together a reason why I wanted to borrow a few minutes of her time. The best I could come up with was getting an opinion from a fellow more experienced journalist on one of my latest work. Laura saved me from having to voice my pathetic excuse.

"Well, it's nice to see young people like yourself taking an interest in writing." She fished out her keys from her pocket. "Let's move this inside shall we? Oh, and I don't think your friends are complete necessary to join us." She flashed me a smile and opened the door.

I gave Clay and Marsten a reassuring look to hold them at bay outside the door while I followed her in.

It was a small apartment after all. The living room had two doors branching off of it, the kitchen and the bedroom, no bathroom in sight. Laura locked the door behind and walked past me into the bedroom. I followed. She'd turned the space into a workshop, newspaper clippings and photos filled the walls and corkboards, her desk sprawled with overflowing folders and letters. It took me a moment before I realized what the furry blobs in the photos were of, too big to be dogs, but still carried the features of canine. _Werewolves._

"Fascinating aren't they?" Laura had her back turned to me as she set down her purse and jacket on the bed, "the supernatural, the shape shifters. Living on the border of reality yet amongst us at the same time. It makes you wonder what kind of a world we really live in doesn't it. Of course, people only see what they want to see. But I'm assuming you know better, don't you Elena Michaels?"

She wheeled around, a gun in her hand. I moved towards her on reflex.

"Stay." Laura barked, as if giving a dog a command. I froze.

"You didn't come here to ask my opinion on articles did you?"

By then Clay and Marsten had already stormed their way into the room. But considering the bedroom only had one entrance, of which I was standing in, there wasn't much help they could give. Clay threw himself in front of me, pushing me back, a snarl ripped through his throat.

"Clayton Danvers, yes?"

"Some one's been doing their research." Clay said, even though I could only see his back I knew his eyes were narrowing, body tense, calculating the distance he'd have to go to reach the gun and possibly break her arm.

"That's not the point." Laura said, now holding the gun with both hands. "Why are you here?"

"We're here to ask about your husband and your daughter."

"Don't have any. I'm not married and I defiantly don't have children." She barked.

"Your ex-husband then." I moved forward only to have Clay hold me back with his arm. "I think I can guess the reason behind why you decided to leave him. And your daughter Kimberly."

Her jaw tensed, gripping the gun so hard her knuckled turned white.

"It's amazing. You're right." I said as I looked around the room at her photos of wolves, different ages, different colours, some straight on shots, some on mere shadows in the trees, "And you're also right, it's not that humans don't believe, it's that they don't _want to_ believe, but something must have opened your eyes to the truth. Do you remember Barry Olsten?"

I could have sworn I saw Laura blink back tears, and put my hand on Clay's shoulder to keep him from taking the opportunity to sprint forth and take her out.

"It's okay Laura. We're not here for you. You're not in any danger, you can lower the gun. But your daughter, she's in trouble. I'm not sure if you know this, but she's become a beautiful successful young woman who helps everyone she knows. She has a beautiful soul."

I looked back and forth between Clay and Marsten. Laura had hesitance throughout her features, her hands quivering as if not sure on what to do with the gun. I pinched Clay. He yelped. Looking back at me, he shook his head. I grabbed his _weaker_ arm and hauled him out of the way, backing Marsten out of the door while I was at it.

Finally, when they were in the living room, I turn back to Laura, "Better?"

She lowered her gun and slumped down on the bed, her face in her hands. I stayed where I was.

"You know my name is Elena Michaels. That must also mean you know about the Pack. Right?"

She nodded.

"The Pack is in danger Laura. My Alfa, my children," I saw her flinch as I said it, "they're in terrible danger, and the only way we can fix this is by finding your daughter."

She looked up and met my eyes. I'd once read somewhere that you can tell whether a person is lying just by a look on the eyes, that's how poker players got so good at what they do. They are the windows to a person's soul. Whatever she saw in me, it must have been enough to know i was telling the truth.

"There's this cabin that Barry and I use to live at."

I got down the location and the complicated directions to get there, there was no address since it was right smack dab in the middle of the forest a miles from any known road. Laura promised that she'd pick up the phone if I happened to call with any question. I thanked her. As I left she grabbed my hand, "Hows…Barry?" desperation and concern tainted her eyes.

I suddenly realized something. Maybe, it wasn't how we assumed it to be. Maybe things were the other way around. Every time Laura had said his name, it wasn't with hatred or anger, but the opposite, with r_espect_. What if Laura didn't want to leave? What if it was Olsten that made her leave, whether to protect his secret or to protect her? Because this was a world forbidden to humans, and any human that knows of our secrets was immediately in danger. She'd loved him. She'd loved their daughter. And this obscure obsession with werewolves and the supernatural was a way for her to keep connected with him and the world she was once a part of. It would explain why she'd never written a single article on the topic despite all the evidence she'd collected.

I felt sick. Maybe anchovies on my pizza really weren't such a good idea. When I looked back down at Laura's pleading eyes, I knew she was waiting for an answer.

"He's fine."

I prayed she wouldn't ask to see him. And she didn't. She merely nodded her head and buried her face back into her hands. I raced out of the room before she could ask another question.


	10. Chapter 9

**Mutt**

'Chapter Nine'

We gassed it, pushing the traffic limit as hard as we could until we reached the highways outside the city, and even then we still ended up with two speeding tickets. I could tell from the look on Clays face every time he saw red, white and blue flashing lights behind us he wanted to just kill the officer and keep driving.

I'd called Paige to get the times for flights to Miami or surrounding region from New York or surrounding region. The best she came up with was an airline due to leave in 24 hours. Twenty four hours?! We could have driven down there by the time we got on the plane. Apparently the flight that was due to leave in the next eight hours was cancelled due to terrorist threats. Damn the terrorists, couldn't they have threaten the country on any other day? So we drove.

We got about a quarter of a mile away from the city when my cell phone rang. I checked the caller ID and discovered it to be Laura.

"What the hell does she want?"

I waved Clay off to keep driving as I answered, "Laura?"

"Elena!"

I immediately picked up on the panic in her voice, and so did the boys too, for they both jerked their heads my way.

"Some one's here. Please, some back. Please come back! Oh, they're going to kill me. Please!"

"What?! Laura, who? Who's there?"

She crackled as we drove under a bridge, her voice coming at me between sobs, "Please. They said they want you back here now. They said- Elena, I think they're going to kill me."

I sensed sheer terror. The brave thing to do when threatened with a situation like this would have been to bite your tongue and refuse to do whatever the attacker told you to do, to be the hero of the day because always, always some one would come along and end up saving you in the end. This was the Hollywood version of kidnaps. In real life, you would comply. The line went dead.

"Turn around." I barked at Clay.

"That's what they want us to do."

"Yes I know, so turn around." I repeated through gritted teeth.

He snuck a look at me, "We can't, Elena. If we do there's no way we're going to make it to Jeremy before they do. They obviously got it out of her in some way. The only thing going back would accomplish is getting everyone killed."

"There are only two of them now. They wouldn't risk splitting up."

"Exactly, so why do you think they're going to go after? They've probably killed Laura and are going straight to Jeremy while we're looping back."

"So what are you saying? That we save the Pack at the expense of an innocent woman's life?" I said incredulously.

"Innocent? She held up a gun to you. She hooked up with a mutt and had babies for god sakes!"

Something snapped in my head. I lunged at the steering wheel. Clay jerked aside and the car went skittering off the road. Marsten grabbed me by the shoulders from the back seat and pulled me back into my side of the car. Clay pulled the car into a dead stop at the side of the road, the entire vehicle lopping to the left nose first in a shallow ditch.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He barked at me.

I pulled back into my seat, shaking, regretting what I'd done. "I'm sorry, I just feel…" _so lost_, they were forcing us to make a choice, and I was falling right into their trap. What was Jeremy thinking? I couldn't lead. I couldn't even save an innocent human. I left Laura at the apartment all by herself and ran out because I was too afraid of answering her questions, I afraid of commiting myself to her. I should have taken her with us, instead of worrying about her feelings and my feelings. And now my mistake had cost Laura her life. A life isn't a mistake that could be made, once it was gone, it was gone for good. I turned to look at Clay, tears starting to stream from my eyes, expecting him to be glaring down at me. But instead of a glare, I saw concern.

"Look…I know you're worried." He said. "But we can't go back now. Think about Jeremy and think about the kids."

I swallowed and nodded.

"How's this?" Marsten leaned forward between us from the back seat, "I'll go back and check things out with Laura while you guys keep going. Even if one of the mutts is still there, I can take him, one on one."

I thought for a moment and closed my eyes. "No. But thanks anyways though."

I'd had enough of their tricks. The only way they could have followed us to Laura's is if they had been tracking us from the beginning. When we killed Hayes, they must have been watching, following. This was the last straw. I wasn't going to fall for anymore of their twisted plans.

We drove back onto the highway as I called Laura's phone, knowing that she wouldn't be the one to pick up. Instead, a more familiar voice rang on the other side, "So did you decide what you're going to do yet?" it was Derek. I figures that much, Cain probably still couldn't talk with that busted up jaw.

"Yeah, I've decided." I said.

"And?"

"I've decided I want to talk to Laura. We're heading back right now. And I get to talk to her, and then we'll enter the city and come meet up with your guys. There's two of you right? You and that guy with the lolling jaw?"

There was silence on the other end, "I'm afraid I can't let you talk to her right now. You see, she's a little tied up."

"Then untie her."

"Make that she's unconscious." He added quickly to cover up for his mistake. I heard Cain grunt behind him. It might have been a 'y_ou're an idiot_' or '_you fucking moron'_, both of which had five syllables.

"Yeah. I think your buddy pretty much said it for me. Listen to me closely Derek. I don't care how skilled you are or how amazing your kung fu is. You're a pitiful excuse for a werewolf, a goddamn maggot with fur. We're not coming back to New York but I dare you to come chase us. You know the location right? What did you do to get it out of her? Threats or torture? Let's have a little road race and we'll meet you there, bring you buddy too, my hands are still itching to crack another neck."

"Is this coming from the damsel in distress?"

I snapped the phone shut.

"Did you have a challenge them like that?" Clay glanced over.

"Just drive." I said, exhausted, "No more mistakes. If we let them go now then they'll just come after us again. Better to take them out now while we still have them in our radar."

* * *

I'd consider driving to Miami a cross country trip, a good half day, 12 hours, at least. The half hours head start we had was definitely wearing thin between gas and car capacity. To pass the time I did the math in my head. The Jeep that Paige had lent us was quite new and was capable of going up to very high speeds. But considering we were lugging three people instead of two across the country, which would have slowed down our speed of travel, distance over time. What did it all add up to? Driving for 12 hours straight, stopping for only gas and food, and still not guaranteed to make it before they did. Why did they have to live all the way down in Miami?

We'd driven right through the night, through the morning and coming up on afternoon when we finally hit Miami, switching drivers every couple of hours. I was sitting in the back, cuddled in Clay's arms, dozing off when the scent of trees hit me. I snapped my eyes open to find that we were surrounded with green. My brain still groggy from too much sleep, since there wasn't much of anything else to do in a six by eight car, and with Marsten in the car with us. But as soon as my mind began to focus, my ears caught the sounds of many things, the tires crunching into the soil beneath us, the birds chirping away in the trees, the woodpecker tapping Morse code against the hollow sounding tree. It seemed so peaceful. No wonder they chose to live here. I woke up Clay. He smiled down at me, eyes still slits of blue.

"We're finally here." Marsten called, exhausion in his voice. The car rolled to a stop.


	11. Chapter 10

**Mutt**

'Chapter Ten'

After nearly crawling out of the car, we took turns Changing, which took less time than ever, each of us wanted to spread our muscles out. A good run, in the direction of the cabin, is exactly what the doctor ordered, or not.

We raced through the trees towards the location Laura had given us, Clay taking the lead for a bit but I caught up after about half a mile, Marsten making no move to engage in our little games. Every werewolf dreamed about this before their first Change, running free through the trees, feeling the wind coarse through your fur as the world came alive around you, your ears open to everything, your nose catching scents never noticed before. To me it didn't start out a dream, it started out a reality, a grim reality, which soon turned out for the better with the help of Jeremy and the Pack.

As we neared the cabin we slowed, Clay taking the lead, the memory of nearly two decades ago returning to him. We slithered through the bushes soundlessly. But as we caught sight of the roofs of the cabin a sickening feeling spread through me. It was the scent of the mutts. It penetrated the immediate area along with Riven's. What the heck? How did they manage to make it here before us? We didn't even stop for bathroom breaks!

Clay stopped me and puffed, turning his muzzle every which way. It was difficult to communicate in wolf form, but years of practice had made us pros. I turned to Marsten and moved my paw towards the left, brushing up against him close. There were three of us, and that against their three even if Riven had a gun would have been pretty evenly matched. My biggest concern was if they used Jeremy as a hostage.

We came up on the behind of the cabin, which was huge, probably about the same size at Stonehaven, if not larger. Marsten took the left side while I took the right and together we would round the cabin to the front. Clay all the while would make a giant circle around the perimeter of the cabin and holler if he encountered anything. As I moved along the wood of the structure I tripped over many things, a lawn mower, a leaf blower, a barbecue grill, and what looked like one of those miniature Barbie Hot Wheels cars for toddlers. This place had been a life for a family, and it made me sad.

As I rounded the corner, I caught hold of Jeremy's scent. Excitement flittered through my stomach. We were so close. I kept going; making sure every step I took was carefully placed, keeping track of all four paws. A yelping sound caught my attention and I bolted, forgetting about my stealth ness, clobbering up the stone pathway around the corner of the cabin. A stronger scent a Jeremy stopped me in my tracks. I backpedaled and looked into the trees away from the cabin, and bolted in that direction, into the bushes, almost smacking muzzle first into...Jeremy.

He bit me by the scruff of my neck and held me on the ground for a moment, telling me to hush. Typical Jeremy, even at a heartwarming reunion moment he had to think about strategy first, but I guess that's what makes him such a good Alfa. I had so many questions. What happened to you? Where are Logan and Kate? Where's Riven, or who's Riven? How did you escape Stonehaven that night? How the hell did you get that giant gash on your back? But we couldn't talk like this, both of us in wolf form. But that didn't matter, I felt safe. For the first time in the past two days, I felt secure, like everything was going to be alright.

Jeremy nudged me to my feet. I could tell by the shimmer in his eyes he was glad to see me too. He looked out of the bushes towards the cabin and we dashed out. We rounded the cabin on opposite sides. I turned the corners sharply until I saw Clay and Marsten snapping and growling at two other werewolves, the mutts, I could tell by their scents. The one with a slacked jaw was going after Clay whiles the other, I assumed was Derek, was lunging at Marsten, and winning. He had Marsten smacked against the base of a tree. I ran and tried to tackle him, but he somehow saw me coming and swiveled out of the way, biting me in the hind leg as I passed him.

I snuck a look at Marsten; the yelp I'd heard earlier must have been him. He was shaking his head furiously; a bleed gash down his left eye and his foreleg was twisted in a very unnatural manner.

Derek turned his attention to me. His lips curling back in a grin. Boy, I hated that guy. He came charging at me this time. I leapt out of the way but he turned sharply and still managed to lunge himself on me anyways. We rolled to the ground, snapping and snarling at each other. I tried to kick him off but never managed a good enough grip on his underside. As he positioned himself on top of me, a big black blur of fur knocked him off me.

Jeremy stepped over me. His back heaving, I could tell the injury to his back was taking its toll, especially since Jeremy wasn't as young as he used to be. Derek growled at him. Angry, obviously seeing that things weren't going his way. He was skilled but not stupid. He wasn't going to attack two werewolves at the same time. Looking over at his partner, who wasn't fairing much better, he wheeled, turning on his tail and running.

No. there was no way I was going to let him escape. Not now, not after all that chasing, not after everything he's done to the Pack, I ran after him. But Jeremy suddenly turning in my way and stopped me. I growled at him and he growled back. Through the corner of my eyes I saw Derek's figure getting smaller as he drew closer to the trees, but before he managed to leap into the forest, a gunshot cracked the air, so sudden it made me jump. Derek's body flopped to the ground. I wheeled, scanning my eyes around the grounds. Clay had already finished with Cain, not a hard target considering he'd beaten the crap out of him once before, and was looking around as confused as I was.

A click overhead and I looked up. There on the roof of the cabin was Dr. Kimberly Riven, rifle at hand, overlooking all of us.


	12. Chapter 11

**Mutt**

'Chapter Eleven'

I followed Riven into the forests. Jeremy had taken Clay and Marsten out to retrieve the kids. As much as I wanted to see them, I knew that there were other things that needed to be tended to. Riven had given me some of her clothes, nice enough gesture, but considering she hadn't been here since she was a kid, most of the clothes had either bunnies or unicorns on them. I picked the bunnies.

We walked for a bit, me not really knowing how to initiate a conversation. What could have been said? 'I assumed that you were with the mutts and now that I see you're not, I'm glad.' Or 'Sorry to say Kimberly, but your mom's dead.' I bit my tongue, and realized just how little about her we actually knew, and yet we jumped straight into thinking she was the threat.

"I loved these trees."

I looked up to see her stopped, back still to me, her curly brown hair gleaming in the sunlight. When she turned back to look at me, her green eyes blended in perfectly with her surroundings, so intoned with nature, so wide and untamed, not the doctor we met in the hospital before at all.

"For as long as I knew they were my home. I mean, the closest thing we ever got to outside communication was daily trips to the grocery store. Sorry there was no phone otherwise your Alfa could have called you."

I mentally made a note to buy Jeremy a cell phone for his birthday, or just any regular day, here Jeremy, happy Wednesday, now you're going to accept it whether you like it or not.

"I trust you must know my background story already, considering you're here and all." Riven said.

I looked back and forth, pretending to be amazed with the surroundings, "So-so. You were born and raised here. Your father was Barry Olsten, a m-werewolf."

She threw her head back and laughed. I bit my tongue.

"It's okay. Say it, he was a _mutt_, and that's why he was killed. Right?" Her voice was tainted with a little bitterness. Riven walked up to a tree, roots extending out, breaking through rock and soil, and pressed her hands against it, looking up into the leaves.

"This was the tree I was in when they killed my father." She took two steps back and pointed to the base of the tree. "He was sprawled up there and the two wolves surrounded him on either side. Elena of the Pack, would you understand the look in his eyes as he was dying, looking up at me? I was eight, so I certainly did not. All I saw was a ghost, a scary ghost with features that frightened me. I remember feeling so relieved when I opened my eyes I don't know how many hours later and seeing the ghost gone. And then I got up and wondered why I was suddenly all alone. It's the simple reality that a child comes up with."

I felt my stomach twist. Peering into the eyes of a person as they died, I couldn't say I've never seen it before, after all I've killed many people, but what she had gone through was something totally different.

"So after a few years, when I looked back on the situation, the incompleteness of it bothered me. So I went in search for answers, and I found it. It was like putting together a puzzle, the pieces from my childhood memory fit together, my dad's eating habits, his late night outings, his frazzled appearance when he found me that day in the forest and lifted me into the tree. I understood then why he made it seem like a life and death situation."

"So you know about werewolves too?"

She shrugged, "Pretty much. There's the central Pack, who basically runs over everything. And then there are the mutts, whose lives are worth shit."

"It's not-."

"Oh but it is Elena. For the very reason my father was killed, because he wasn't part of the Pack. He was a threat because you guys didn't have any control over him."

"Yes that's true but-," I bite my tongue harder, tasting blood, frustration welled up inside me, "That was then. _This is_ _now_. Jeremy isn't like the other Alfas, he sees things outside of people's normal perspectives. He can make a change so that things like what happened to you and your family will never happen again."

I looked up to see her expression. "I know you don't believe me. But I believe in Jeremy, and…and when I become Alfa, I will ensure those changes as well."

I suddenly felt something hit the fan. For so long now, I've resented Alfahood, because I thought I wouldn't have been good enough. Being Alfa, yes, had responsibilities and required leadership skills and good decision making, things I've feared I would either screw up or not be able to do. But there was one thing that I've always failed to take into consideration, _power_. The Alfa had the ultimate power, the power to rule, or the power to make change. That's what I wanted. I wanted to make a difference and the only way to do that is to rule. So suddenly I felt something I've never felt before, _motivation._ I will be like Jeremy. I will see the larger picture.

Riven we had all wrong. After a chat with her, it turned out the scent we caught of her on our front doorsteps was actually her coming to pull Jeremy and the twins out of the incoming mutts. She'd done her research, and she kept an eye on the mutts in the region. That's how she knew about the attack on the Pack. But as they were making their escape, Hayes caught up with them and they fought. Jeremy was injured in the process. But Riven came out with her handy dandy shotgun, and no mutt was stupid enough to challenge a bullet traveling at the speed of sound. So to find a safe place far away from the central action for Jeremy to rest and gain safety, she took them here; to the only place she knew was 100 percent secret, or 99 percent, considering her mother whom she haven't ever met. And unfortunately, never will.

I hadn't told her about her mother, and didn't feel the need to. She was dead, but in Kim's eyes, she had always been dead. The only memory she had of her mother was her getting out of the car without so much as a hug or kiss.

"Where's mommy going daddy?"

"Away. For a long, long time."

You couldn't miss what you'd never known.

Kimberly had become the only human that knows of the existence of the supernatural world. Being open minded, she sees things that normal human would just slander by without a second thought, like 'oversized dog spotted in central park' or 'deer attack last night by bear' or something as simple as a size zero girl ordering four Big Mac meals at McDonalds. But in my opinion, she had every right to know, as the daughter of a werewolf. I trusted she would know to keep her mouth shut, just as Laura had. True, there was resentment towards the Pack that would never disappear, but the fact that she went out of her way to save the Pack was enough to ensure me of her priorities. And hey, maybe we could even be friends and sip coffee at that shop across from the hospital.

We walked back to the cabin, a new resolution in my mind. One day soon, Jeremy would official pass on the role of Alfa to me through verbal means, and I would accept it full on. In a way I'm kinda glad to know in advance. This way I wouldn't have a mental break down from shock in front of Jeremy when it does happen. And I would do my best to break away the tension between the Pack and the mutt population.

The sounds of Kate and Logan's familiar laughter hit me before we came out of the trees. Even though it had only been days since I'd last seem it, it seemed like ages. Perhaps from the lack of sleep, or perhaps I just loved seeing them.

"Mommy! Mommy!" greeted me as I stepped out from the trees. Two bodies, four arms immediately smacked me in the side. Two pairs of big bright eyes looked up at me.

"Home?"

I guess time passed for them as slow as it passed for me. "Yes. Home."


	13. Chapter 12

(Author's Note: :) Thank you for reading my story. I hope to get your feedback on what you thought of it. This last little bit is just tying things up with Elena and Marsten. I didn't really know how to slide it into the main story.)

**Mutt**

'Chapter Twelve'

The Jeep was bouncing up and down on its tires when the kids got in. I smiled to myself. They were just happy to be going home finally. I was glad Kim took good care of them during the meantime, and here I was worrying my ass off while Kate was telling me how they were allowed to have ice cream for dessert every meal.

As Jeremy and Clay were heading towards the Jeep, I looked over at Marsten, standing leaning against the porch banister, arms folded over his chest. I walked up to him, "Are you coming with us?"

He looked at me, "There's not enough room in the Jeep."

"Oh, I guess I'll see you…" _When?_ "…later then."

I would tell by his tone he knew better. The reunion of a family had finally happened after two long days. His presence in the car would only make it awkward. Marsten may have been one of the Pack now, but the title alone wouldn't be able to change everything.

"Yeah," Marsten muttered back.

"It's really unfair." I looked at the ground. After everything he'd done for us in the past few days, we were just going to shun him out in the end? To me, it was unacceptable, but it was the truth, something I would dedicate myself to changing when I became Alfa.

"Don't be angry. It's not your fault." Marsten shrugged.

"But I-."

"But nothing Elena." He cut me off, "When I was a kid I wanted to be part of the Pack, so much it got my father killed for it. I'd always know that we were different, my father and me. I wanted to belong but I never, ever, had the thought of rolling around playing in the forest with other Pack kids. So I'm not expecting anything. Don't worry. It's better this way."

"Was it hard for you? Your childhood I mean."

"Not really, we lived normally, a little more loaded than out neighbors considering the extra income we were making on the side. But my dad was always careful about how he spent it so it wouldn't get anyone curious. You know, how a home seller was able to afford a plasma screen TV and go on vacation to exotic islands every other week."

I snickered.

"But he wasn't stupid like some of the others out there. He- he never tried to do anything to upset the Pack."

"I'm sorry." I could feel the pain rise again in his voice. A dead silence floated between us.

"Karl?" I shoved my hands into my pockets, "I forgot to thank you for saving me earlier, you know, at the river."

His eyes looked up at me with an enlightened expression that could have passed for surprise.

"I didn't want you to think I'm ungrateful or anything. Because I really did appreciate it, and I appreciate how you abandoned your meeting to come help us, whether you wanted to or not."

The words were just flowing now.

"In the past I know I would have felt indebt to you for helping the Pack, but I guess its different now. It's like with Clay. He's saved me millions of times I can't even count anymore, but I never say thank you, because its really not needed, I repay my debt just by being there with him. So I guess what I'm trying to say is don't be expecting more land or something for helping us out this time. Because I really hope that you and I can go out for donuts whenever you're in town to just talk."

I replayed my words in my head and was suddenly wondering whether I'd sounded rude. I had a point, but did it come out clear enough for him to read? Oh gosh, should I just tell him to forget what I've just said and start again, or just leave? Why didn't I just stop after 'thank you'?

I opened my mouth and he suddenly snickered, "Don't try so hard Elena; it doesn't work well for Alfa. You've got to be resolute in your words and choose them carefully so they're quick and to the point. Uh, and blushing isn't effective either."

I touched a hand to my cheek and felt it warm. "Wait, how did you know about Jeremy choosing me to be Alfa?"

"I didn't, but now I do."

_Crap._

"But it was pretty obvious. All events centers on you guys, and who's he going to pick? Over impulsive, brawn and no brain, Clay, or you?" Marsten said.

I rolled my eyes. As much as I hated to admit it, yeah, that made sense. The car horn beeped and I looked to see Logan jumping on Jeremy's lap behind the wheel, beaming back at me.

"Come on, let's go, because something breaks," Clay called.

"Just a little advice; as long as you're a part of the Pack, getting along with Clay will definitely be an added bonus." I looked over, "Are you coming back to Stonehaven with us?"

"No, I'll ride with Kim with you into town for a flight but I've got some amending to do with the meeting that I skipped out on." Marsten said.

"Okay then. Hopefully I'll see you soon." I called over my shoulder.


End file.
